Melancton Smith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melancton Smith ( May 7, 1744–July 29, 1798 ) was a New York Delegate to the Continental Congress. His first name is sometimes spelled "Melanchthon"; it derives from Philipp Melanchthon, the leader in the Reformation.
He was born in Jamaica on Long Island in New York and home schooled by his parents. He was businessman in Poughkeepsie, New York and in 1769 he helped organize the Washington Hollow Presbyterian Church.
He became a delegate to the First Provincial Congress in New York on May 22, 1775. He served in the Continental Line Regiment which was organized June 30, 1775, and he organized the Dutchess County Rangers, of which he was major. in 1777 and 1778. On Feb. 11, 1777, he became one of three members of a Dutchess County, New York commission for "inquiring into, detecting and defeating all conspiracies . . . against the liberties of America;" he served for the next six months administering oaths of allegiance, arresting suspects, informing upon and examining Loyalists. While wielding this powerful civil and military authority, he was also serving as high sheriff of Dutchess County. He extended his land holdings by purchasing some of the forfeited Loyalist estates. [Boyd (1935]
Smith was the leader of the Anti-Federalist party with regard to ratifying the Constitution. He may have been the Anti-Federalist writer using the pseudonym Federal Farmer.
Smith moved to New York City in 1785 where he was a prominent merchant. He helped found the New York Manumission Society in opposition to slavery and served in the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1787, was a member of the State ratification convention at Poughkeepsie in 1788, where his opposition speeches warned the new government would be controlled by elites. He held out for a Bill of Rights until Alexander Hamilton's eloquence and news of Virginia's ratification impelled him to announce his support of the Constitution, an action which broke the Anti-Federalist ranks and brought down Governor George Clinton's wrath. He was one of the few important landowners and merchants among the Anti-Federalists, and Smith continued in the Clintonian party. In 1789 he sponsored the movement for a second constitutional convention. He was elected to the legislature in 1791 and canvassed the state for Clinton in 1792 against John Jay. He died from yellow fever in the epidemic in New York City in 1798.
He served in the State Assembly in 1791. He died in New York City and was buried in Jamaica, New York.
[edit] References
- Boyd, Julian P. "Smith, Melancton, 1744---1798, (May 7, 1744 - July 29, 1798)," Dictionary of American Biography, Volume 9 (1935)
- Robert H. Webking. "Melancton Smith and the Letters from the Federal Farmer," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 44, No. 3, (Jul., 1987), pp. 510-528 online in JSTOR
